Barcelona succeeded in triumphing in the Copa del Rey final in Extremis on Saturday evening, so that the winner was secured five minutes in time by an excellent Jules Kounde strike. That cost a part of the sting from a competition that the tensions were officially raised to new heights with Real Madrid and asked that the officials would be changed the day before the competition.
In the course of a few hours after referee Ricardo de Burgos Bergoetxea and Var Pablo Gonzalez Fuertes gave a press conference, Los Blancos made their indignation clear and felt the feeling that they would be against them. After the cancellation of their press conference and training session on Friday, it was rumor that Los Blancos could get himself out of the final, something that Real Madrid later distorted.
From a Barcelona perspective, many saw this as an attempt to stack the pressure on the officials. A player who was certainly not impressed by all this was Basque defender Inigo Martinez, who spoke with Marca after the game.
“They were very unfair. We all make mistakes. We can be better or worse … But for things to reach that level, it did not realize the name of the Great Club that is Real Madrid. That is my opinion,” he noticed.
“I congratulated the Burgos Bankoetxea for the job he had done, and I hope that the rest does it, that they have put themselves in his place. Because it is not easy to be there, and to let everyone point to you and to blame you. I think the football won today and that is the most important thing.”
Martinez would continue to defend the officials, whom he believed they did well, despite the profession of Barcelona for a penalty on Ferran Torres and potential red cards against Luka Modric and Aurelien Tchouamameni.
'[I have to] Congratulate Richi and his colleagues, they were at a large level. I hope we do it all. It was very unfair to take things that far, and we want to make them a backup of us. We all make mistakes in life and it is difficult. Nobody likes to be in that situation. He knew it would be difficult, a lot of noise around it. I am happy for him, he is a great guy and his professionalism never fails. “
Certainly there were stronger reactions from elsewhere in football. While Barcelona largely kept free to talk about referees in the structure, manager Hansi Flick did not do that it was all the duty of football to protect referees. In the meantime, La Liga President Javier Tebas Real Madrid of a abuse of power, and Atletico Madrid stated that Los Blancos civil servants were difficult.